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“I died once.”

Vacant Sky is an RPG released in three episodes following the death and rebirth of Auria Edith, a small-town girl whose violent and unexpected death turns her world upside down. After her equally unexpected resurrection, Auria finds herself drawn into the heart of a mystery involving a cult of masked cultists who will stop at nothing to make her their goddess.

Features:
-Branching story and characterization
-Significantly alter the course of the story with your choices - including six endings
-Original soundtrack composed by Tarranon, featuring vocal tracks by Melody Yoo and Melanie Ehrlich
-8 playable characters (along with up to 6 guests)
-Customize Auria's stats and growth
-Select your own progression of skills to learn
-Interact with your party members to strengthen your relationship with them
-Unlock guest art title screens through sidequests

The game is split up into three releases.

Original version
Act I - Shadow and Ashes: Released March 16, 2009
Act II - Halo Locks: Released January 5, 2010
Act III - Angel of Justice: Released October 18, 2010

Complete Edition
Act I+ - Death & Rebirth: Released August 31, 2012
Act II+ - Night Zero: Released December 18, 2012
Act III - Angel of Justice: Coming soon!
Act III' - Our Eternity: Coming soon!

Latest Blog

Character Design Case Study: Mia

In this article, I’m going to discuss my process for developing and fleshing out characters. The example I’ll be using is Mia from Act II. There will be some mild spoilers for Acts I and II, so if you haven’t had the chance to play the game yet and intend to, be warned.



Mia is a character who first appears after the player completes their first major quest in Act II of Vacant Sky. She’s an interesting example because she wasn’t originally part of the story as I first envisioned it. Instead, she was introduced to fulfill a specific need I had in telling the story of Act II.

No Longer Human

Act II of Vacant Sky introduces the concept of an Archon, which is a person who has had another person’s soul grafted to theirs with magic. The exact mechanics of how they function are rather complicated, and I wanted to avoid inundating the player with exposition which they would probably forget. However, understanding what it means to be an Archon is crucial to following the story, so I needed some way to convey it to the player in a way they would engage with and care about.

I puzzled over this for a while when starting to write Act II, and eventually decided to illustrate rather than explain what an Archon is and what it means to live as one. To do that, I began to flesh out a character who would serve as a living embodiment of the concept of Archons.

I started by writing out the key ideas I needed to convey:


-Archons are (sometimes) immortal
-Archons can (sometimes) tap into supernatural powers
-Archons are unnatural
-Archons are prone to fits of ultra-violent rage
-The more an Archon taps into the power of their alternate persona, the more their state of mind deteriorates
-Archons and humans can’t coexist

The angle I decided to take was to have Mia serve as a snapshot of what Auria might look like in the near future. She’s a little older, more experienced, and most importantly, confident. At a time when Auria feels isolated and is struggling to find her place in the world, she encounters Mia, who has undergone many of the same hardships and seems to have everything figured out.

When the player first meets Mia, she is alone on the city streets at night, unkempt-looking, and astonishingly strong (having just single-handedly dispatched a group of thugs who had been harassing her). One of the first things she says to Auria after making sure that she’s unhurt is that she intends to follow the fleeing thugs to finish them off. When Auria demands to know how she can suggest such a thing, Mia is perplexed; to her, it’s the obvious thing to do: if someone’s causing you trouble, you should kill them to ensure they never bother you again.

Mia’s callous but rational thinking demonstrates her lack of respect for human life, a stark contrast from Auria’s idealism. Auria is appalled and afraid, unaware that later in the story, she’ll be required to make a very similar judgment call.

It’s clear from the first interaction with Mia that she lives outside of human society: she makes a distinction between herself and “them” when speaking and shows flagrant disregard for human laws and morality (she steals to eat and doesn’t bat an eye at killing someone when it’s convenient). She suggests that since they’re immortal, they have nothing to fear from humans, and that laws don’t apply to them; on the contrary, laws exist to protect humans from them.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The introduction of Mia answers a key question on the player’s mind (what exactly is Auria?) but also suggests several more without directly asking them:

-How did Auria become an Archon? When did it happen?
-Why is Mia so convinced that Archons and humans are enemies?
-Does Auria’s mother know that she’s an Archon? Does she know something about what’s going on?

One of the best ways to manipulate the reader is to get them thinking about questions, because they’ll laser-focus in on those questions as they read/play in the hopes of finding answers. This is useful for two reasons: 1) it builds anticipation and 2) it allows you to manipulate expectations.

In this case, building anticipation was one of my key objectives, since the questions were all answered at the turning point of Act II, a major scene which I wanted to be one of the most shocking and memorable moments in the whole Contention saga. By teasing the player with a mixture of anticipation and dread, the mood was set for a grim revelation that would (hopefully) cause the player to feel the same shock and hopelessness as Auria.

The connection between Auria and Mia is key to Act II. Act II serves as a transition for Auria, putting her on track to become like Mia. So, one of the goals of Mia’s introduction was to suggest to the player what Auria would be like at the end of it, and to set the player up with the expectation that they would find out. This serves to indicate to the player what the conceit of the story is and helps to contextualize the events to follow.

Characterization Through Gameplay

One of the unique benefits of the game medium is the ability to convey subtext through a space that the player navigates. Act II of Vacant Sky introduces a day/night system where certain people and places are only available at certain times of day.

For most of the game, the nighttime segments are fairly useless: only one location can be accessed at night, no quests can be done at night, and all of the player’s party members are either at home or just outside. The streets are empty, too. There’s no one to talk to.

This changes in the intermission between major quests. Mia exclusively appears at night, establishing a dichotomy between herself and the rest of the cast. You can only find her when everyone else is gone, when you’re warned that it’s dangerous to go out alone. This serves to enhance Mia’s feeling of otherness, as she alone breaks the pattern that you’ve become accustomed to in playing the game.

As Mia is the only one who provides the player with direct answers about the mysteries of the story, the player is encouraged to be curious about her and anticipate each interaction with her. As it’s never explicitly stated when she’s around, this leads the player to go out into the night (in doing so, disobeying the advice of Auria’s friends - her anchors to human society) and seek her out. The player subconsciously directs Auria into becoming an entity who exists in the lonesome world of the night, just like the mysterious girl they’re pursuing.

The second time Auria meets Mia, she witnesses her Archon powers go out of control, nearly causing the death of one of her friends. This serves as a warning of what will happen if Auria begins relying on her Archon powers too much herself (foreshadowing the ill-fated finale of Act II). However, Auria’s Archon powers are extremely useful in combat and become even stronger as the game progresses. This encourages the player to act out Auria’s part: you’re warned that her powers are evil and dangerous, but they’re just so convenient and satisfying to use that you can’t help relying on them more and more.

In the last stretch of Act II, you finally get Mia in your party. Although it’s normally a rule of the game that everyone in your party is always the same level, an exception is made for Mia, who is always 3 levels higher than Auria. On top of that, her stat build will always be the perfect complement to Auria’s, making it so that the two of them form a brutally efficient team. Her role in battle reaffirms her role in the story as Auria’s closest ally and the one who’s most like her. With Mia at your side, you can take down anyone. You’re not afraid, even when you fight a group of five soldiers equipped with Counter. The easy triumph over enemies that had once been extremely difficult helps put the player in Auria’s head; for the first time, she feels safe and in control, able to do anything with Mia at her side.

One Last Subversion

The final segment with Mia comes with one more departure from the patterns that the game has established. It takes place at twilight, the first time it’s been anything other than day or night. The track that plays in this section is “Last Night of Summer,” which previously played during the nighttime segment of Act I, a reminder that you’re still partially within the domain of the night.

The twilight of East Naven serves to illustrate that Auria (an entity of the day) and Mia (an entity of the night) have come together in the middle. The events of the game have dragged Auria toward Mia’s darkness, but at the same time, interacting with Auria, her first true friend, has pulled Mia out of the lonely emptiness of the night toward the domain of the day.

The twilight is calming, safe, and a little melancholy. There are people around, but the muted colors and somber music suggest that this isn’t quite the upbeat, welcoming world that the day normally is. It’s here, in the twilight, that Auria and Mia reach their resolve about what to do with their lives.

(The events of Act II’s finale, of course, wipe away the twilight and replace it with a fourth rendition of East Naven, barren and hopeless. The twilight period is never seen again in Act III: There can be no middle of the road.)

This was a little long-winded, but I thought I’d give an insight into how I develop characters and how I try to convey their characterization through the player’s interactions with the game. Hopefully, you found it interesting.

Posts

Erm, game? So I just entered the Temple of Baal and Rayonne is speaking to me, but he is not actually in my party and I am having to fight the enemies alone. I dont even
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=AlexHeartnet
Erm, game? So I just entered the Temple of Baal and Rayonne is speaking to me, but he is not actually in my party and I am having to fight the enemies alone. I dont even

Is this your first area in Act II? IIRC there's a bug where you start without anyone assigned to your party, so you need to add them through the main menu. Sorry about that!
author=Sailerius
IIRC there's a bug where you start without anyone assigned to your party, so you need to add them through the main menu. Sorry about that!

Oh, that explains it. The game gave me zero indication that I should reassign party members and I am good at following directions literally (especially non-written ones).

oh! How sweet. That random namelss Alibaas woman remembered her little princess' day of birth. With all the talk about vidar, archons, and violence it is glad to see there is at least one individual doing things the quiet way. The locals might get upset about her giving a box to a random stranger with the intention of violating the sanctity of the linear flow of time, but it is such a SPECIAL occasion...

But why oh why a black feather. I am sure that symbolises something and I can not even begin to guess what. If you didn't care about what the gift was at all, then you could of made it a dagger for Auria to use as a starter weapon simply to provide the player with yet more questions, but instead you made the gift something very specific. It's not even added to Auria's inventory, which implys she either tossed it out or it was not in Auria's backpack when she fell.


I must say, Auria's character really is one that heavily limits the amount of information the player is fed about the setting while still providing plenty of dots to connect. I am at the early parts of Act II+ now and I am finding myself wanting for more names to go with those dots. Hopefully by the end of Act II+ I will be able to make accurate guesses about the final act.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=AlexHeartnet
Oh, that explains it. The game gave me zero indication that I should reassign party members and I am good at following directions literally (especially non-written ones).

It wasn't an intentional design choice. The reason it happens is that in the end of Act I+, everyone is removed from your party for the final battle, and as Act II+ continues the same file, it defaults to that state of having no party.

Act II+ kind of serves as the worldbuilding arc, so hopefully you'll find some of your questions answered!
So I fully explored your depiction of hell Act I+ East Naven; I even found your bottle of Geofruit Soda that you so cleverly hid. But where is George? I could not find him despite searching everywhere. That sidequest will have to go forever unfinished fgnsn;wensdfapp I refuse to spend another minute in East Naven is the worst ever JRPG starting town ever

...The chest in East Naven with the cave next to it is unreachable, right? It is the only milligram of adventure to be found anywhere in that dull sleepy town. In an Alibass village I am sure that chest would of been opened pretty quickly by local youths. But not here in the UP. We have no interest in exploring the unfamiliar over here in the UP. The random chest over there is symbolic of the fact. The East Naven locals are very deliberate about wanting to be as unaware of their surrondings as possible (while still staying alive!) This is why the fence-keeping-the-world-out exists in the first place.

The feather the woman gave Auria makes somewhat more sense now that I've re-played Chapter 1 and noticed a lot of things I missed before, especially the life-flashing-before-Auria's-eyes scene. Those turned out to be mostly stylized images of violent events that happened before - I guess being murdered does in fact count as a major event in ones life, as well as your firs time killing someone. However, we also see a woman meeting with a Virad in front of a big tree. This is shown at least at least 3 times mixed in with the violent imagery! Gee, I wonder if there is any significance...

...You ultimately made a story about human consciousness, didn't you? Auria managing the impressive feat of not remembering having burnt down her father's house is a rather convincing example of this.


This in of itself raises more questions about the Virad - I like how you made them more then just a cult. Onto chapter 2 - you really did hide an impressive amount of clues in Chapter 1
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
I... honestly don't remember exactly where George is, and I don't have RPG Maker installed at the moment so I can't check right now. If my memory serves correctly, the trick is that he's only there at a certain time of day. I seem to remember him being by a tree...? I don't know, it's been years since I've even thought about that quest. You probably don't even get anything remarkable for completing it.

Re: The spoiler, I'm glad you found it interesting! Have you completed Act II at this point, or were you just going back to Act I? There's a fair bit more stuff to uncover, so I won't answer in detail until after that.
Why am I not suprised that you do not remember how you designed East Naven. It looked like you thought about putting in the option for Auria to spend the night with her boyfriend or with the cellphone lady that invites you for supper after you break into her house and steal her watch. (seriously, I actually tried both just to see if it was actually a thing or not) How did you past self keep your sanity while making East Naven? The town is a navigational nightmare! Worst part is if that if the roadsigns and maps didn't exist at all then the place would be both less maddening and easier to find stuff in.

No, all of this is Act I+ only :p poked around Act II+ a bit but then wanted to change my build from attack+speed to pure attack (Auria seems like the type that would fight with brute force more then anything else) so figured I might as well take a closer look at Act I+. I had to use a screencap program for your little flashback screen and mash the F12 key!
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
Why am I not suprised that you do not remember how you designed East Naven.

Well, I made the East Naven map in 2005-2006. How intimately-acquainted are you with things you made 10+ years ago? :P
As far as typos go, this one is impressive:

http://imgur.com/yOz40fE
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
Whoops. I guess a new-line wound up inside a \c tag.
Did I mention I am impressed with some of the more subtle themes the game has?

I was half-expecting Act II+ to be a descent into insanity. Instead Auria seems to be reconstructing her perception of reality quite nicely. What are friends? What does it mean to take a life? How should one go about interacting with people? Dr. Savadore and Mia taught her that you cannot completey trust even close friends. Auria learned from Mia why it is not enough to merely exist. Karst taught her the value of having friends in the first place as well as why one should not always grant mercy to one's enemies and how you don't always have to play by the rules. Once you answer at least some of these fundamentially basic questions, the world suddenly starts making sense again.

Halfway through Act II+ now. I am completely unsuprised that there is going to be a fight inside that the huge vacant warehouse. Mia told Auria that humans and archons cannot co-exist long-term? I think it might be time for Auria to start kicking out party memebers! Rayonne has the weakest understanding of reality, so he gets removed first.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
I'm glad you're enjoying it! From the sounds of things, you've completed the Barette quest and are on the Delphon quest?
So, I fought Weapon. This was Weapon's first attack



i r good bugtester
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
If I recall correctly, that's an issue with one of Rayonne's special attacks (Stormpike, I think?). Unfortunately, there's not a workaround for it at this time other than not using it. Sorry!
Yes, turns out that was indeed Stormpike.

Got to the end! And then I realized I missed that liberation day festival thingie. It is a good thing I went back to do it; missing that second charge storage from Mia would of been significant.

Naturally, the ending leaves me with a few questions.
How low of a consiousness state does it take for a human to be unable to tell the difference between another human and an archon? I do not think the residents of East Naven could manage this; it is no wonder why Auria's mom chose that particular town to settle in.
Was Auria's 'destruction' of the town actually improving it?
When happened to the black feather Auria was given back in Act I+?


These will probably go unanswered because I am sure I will miss Act III+ when it comes out. Regardless, I really liked this and I am glad I got to play it.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
How low of a consiousness state does it take for a human to be unable to tell the difference between another human and an archon? I do not think the residents of East Naven could manage this; it is no wonder why Auria's mom chose that particular town to settle in.

There's no visible way to tell. Auria and Mia wouldn't have known if they weren't told.

These will probably go unanswered because I am sure I will miss Act III+ when it comes out. Regardless, I really liked this and I am glad I got to play it.

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the remastered Act III is on hold indefinitely until we finish VSA. The original version of it is still available for download, with the caveat that saves from the remaster aren't compatible with it. But it'll do if you want to see how the story concludes.
author=Fanatik007
any news about act 3?

If I read the comment above this one correctly, Act III+ is on hold until they finish VSA.
Hey Sailerius. Do you mind if I use your game's soundtrack "Vagrant" in a project
I am currently developing. I intend to use it as a theme for one of my antagonists.
My project is non-commercial and I will obviously give credit to the artist.
Thanks in advance.
Ummmmm, can someone explain why Act I+ skips straight from the Virad breakout to Auria and friends on the boat with zero explanation? From a narration standpoint, you haven't introduced these characters yet.

Ah, nvm.